Awakening

*Clang**Clang*

Inside a dojo, lit only by the light of the setting sun, decorated by solid wood and practice weapons, the sound of 2 wooden swords echoed.

2 people stood against each other, both on guard.

One, a man looking to be in his young adulthood; 17 or 15 perhaps. He had long black hair that was let loose and went down his back, with a symmetrical face and black eyes He was unnaturally tall. He wore a white kimono and black leggings. Though his clothes were tattered, there was no visible injury on his body. Either theorizing the use of reverse cursed energy, or the skill of the man at swordsmanship.

His opponent on the other hand, was a woman dressed in the same clothing as him. She had long black hair that was tied from behind, though there were bangs framing her face. She looked....stunning even in her current state, as she was visibly more injured than him. There were bruises all over her hand, her face, and her body underneath her tattered clothes. Yet her breathing looked no different than him at all, and neither was her body shaking in any way. Showing either a high pain tolerance or high endurance.

"You seem distracted." Said the woman, before closing in with an overhead attack.

The man didn't bother meeting her attack, instead, he sidestepped to the left, then thrust his weapon, to the middle section of the woman's weapon. Completely misdirecting her attack, and transitioning it into a slash towards her neck.

The woman in response, dropped all of her weight on her legs, and then split her legs 180 degrees, basically ducking the slash and freeing her own weapon. She went for a low slash, only to find out the man had already jumped out of the range.

"Just thinking of the past. You were quite an annoying brat, but you were cuter back then." Responded the man.

Hearing that, some veins became visible on the womans' forehead.

"Look at you now, all grown up in the right proportions, yet you still don't have a partner. It's probably because of your angry bitch face you know? Wanna work on that maybe? A change of attitude does wonders for beauty." Continued the man, seemingly oblivious to the womans' dark aura.

"Like you are one to talk. Remember that last one who milked all your money before dumping you? I wish i had taken pictures of your face back then." Said the woman, while she clenched her weapon, getting ready for another round.

The mans' face cringed from the memory, before getting into an stance himself.

"That was the first time i saw the dark side of relationships."

They both lunged at each other again. Going back to their routine.

'It has been a long time since then. These spars and banters have become a bit of a routine now.'

'Thinking back now, those really weren't pleasant memories. Not surprisingly, back then i didn't even know what "pleasant" even means.'

'It was 11 years ago. Yet another night. That was when i understood why i enjoyed the long nights so much.'

____________________________

It was yet another night at the Zen'in compound. Different from before, this time there was no rain. Just a stiff silence that was only broken by the sound of Pests, worms and other creatures. It was chilling. The air felt just right. But even that did not compare to the most beautiful thing in this night.

It was the moon. A bright, silvery white circle in the middle of the starry night, that reflected a beautiful color of light into the room. If it could ever be simplified, then it would be called the eye of the dark sky. Making one, enchanted enough to dare try and touch it.

Of course, today is not a day in which i would try to leave the house. I would like to think i have learned a lesson from my experiences. Though, i also think the moonlight is more clear when it is reflected through the windows.

It was getting late.

This age was about the right time for it to appear. Yet it wasn't here even now. Something that i wasn't really worried about. I was more excited for it than worried.

Most of my abilities are, supposedly as that woman said, meant to be 'Generally focused on magic aspect'. It was only a matter of when, not a matter of if. She wouldn't just lie and trick me, then laugh at my suffering right?

Besides, i could almost see the veil that is stretched all over the compounds now. I assume that's a good thing.

Sitting down, i try to focus on the energy i had felt multiple times before. I can't accurately see it, but i have a strong sixth sense. That energy definitely exist within my own body too, as it is basically the equivalent of magic.

It feels creepy almost. I can tell i won't get any enlightenment or heavenly feeling from this energy at the very least.

I can feel it lurking under my skin when i focus on it. It's like a Butterfly in its' cocoon on the last stage of its' birth. It's struggling against the cocoon to get out. More than anything, it feels uncomfortable. I can control it to a certain extent, but it's like a man on a wheelchair, whose condition has finally been cured, is attempting to control his legs again. It's hard controlling a limb that was never there before.

Thankfully, i don't really need to control it in the first place. Just burst it through the cocoon. In fact, it could probably do it all on its' own, but it's not smart enough to do it.

Find a single point of weakness in the cocoon, focus all the efforts on that point, and thrust into it. Slowly, the cocoon will stretch out, until it can no longer do it, then it will burst open.

Like a flood breaking through a damaged dam.

....

In that same moment, a creepy feeling washed over everyone in the compound, with the more experienced ones already taking their swords and rushing in to the source of energy. There was so much of it too.

But it was exceedingly difficult to pin point it.

Unlike a heavenly restriction, this one could clearly be felt, it's just that it was hidden and spread out. It was as if its' nature is to be hidden in the dark. A special property.

"Don't follow the cursed energy trail. Just spread out and search the whole place. You will know it once you see the source of the energy, and if it was an enemy, make sure to scream louder than your wife did that night in my bed." Echoed the voice of an old man, who sounded serious and commanding yet drunk at the same time.

The others stopped dead in their tracks for a moment and turned around, looking ready to slay whoever said that, but then saw the old man Naobito Zen'in, and collectively decided to curse him in afterlife, and got back to work. Searching for the culprit comes first.

'Now it makes sense why she goes out sometimes.' Those were the thoughts of many cucks that night.

Though, the more experienced ones, managed to eventually see through the trick of the cursed energy. It was just hidden to a point where it couldn't be percieved by ordinary sensory skills. One of these experienced ones, was the drunkard himself, who upon realizing it, decided to take things more seriously and find the source. Even letting go of his favorite alchohol for the time being.

Though, he furrowed his eye brows as he saw the cucks going in every direction other than the place where the source resided.

'Do they even know Jujutsu at all? Or are they only really good at swinging cursed tools? No wonder their wives were so unsatisfied with them. They are just that useless.' He thought, as he strolled in the correct direction to find the culprit.

Meanwhile, said culprit himself was sweating and breathing roughly, while thrusting into the imaginary cocoon.

'The path has been opened but i am not good enough for all of it to get out. The amount of energy is ginormous. I can't even feel the bottom of it and i am supposed to be its' owner.' Akira thought, as he continued to add more pressure in his gut, trying to get more out of it. He had already found the source of it. At the middle point of his body.

His body was already enveloped in a dark colored aura, different from the usual blue. The same aura could be found all over the room too.

Slowly, his cursed energy was being released, in fact, it would have already all been released if he had better control over it. It seemed more passive though.

He let his arms out and let out a small laugh. Genuine feeling of accomplishment was clear on his face.

That feeling wouldn't last too long, as an old drunkard blasted the door open and immediately moved to punch the shit out of whatever threatened his house.

Akira, could only hear the sound of the broken sliding door, before his sixth sense warned him of the incoming blow.

Of course, the old drunkard himself had also realised his mistake, but there was no stopping his movement at that point. 24 frames had already been predetermined. He never even thought that the source of this ginormous energy could possibly be a child. In his mind, the child had already fallen victim to whatever creature had invaded the household.

Eyes widened from the feeling he received, Akira knew his days are down to less than seconds now.

The mind working faster than ever to fulfill its' duty. To somehow make it out alive; It had found the answer just a while ago. Now it was a question of, "is a half assed execution enough to make it work?" Though, one could argue, it was probably desperate enough to not care about the answer.

Moved by instincts and a sense of flight, the dark cursed energy formed behind Akiras' back, before his whole body fazed.

*Creakkk*

Came in the sound of a fist crushing wood, but no snapping sound came from a broken skull.

Akira had appeared right in front of the blasted door.

To any onlookers, it would have probably seemed as if he had switched positions with his attacker, as the movement was amazingly fast. But the culprit himself had a look of awe on his face. He perfectly understood what he just did, and was amazed by it. This was in fact his new cursed technique, which had been awakened.

'Darkness manipulation...i jumped between shadows.' He thought, impatient to brag about this to his 2 girl friends.

Naobito turned around and looked at the boy who currently had stars in his eyes.

'It's impossible to dodge for him. Though he has a lot of cursed energy, it still lacks refinement and control. Then that had to be a technique that saved his ass. A technique that wasn't projection, but was capable of out speeding me.' He thought, intrigued about the technique his eyes couldn't follow.

In one frame, he was there. In the next, he wasn't.

With this in mind, he started the conversation.

"Yo kid. I apologize if i startled you. What is your name? Mines' Naobito Zen'in." He said, acting all friendly.

The kid, snapping out of his sweet thoughts, and finally registered the existence of the old man.

"Akira Zen'in is my name. i believe this is the first time we have met. It is a pleasure to meet you master Zen'in." He said.

As he said that, a certain light could be seen in Naobitos' eyes.

This is such a good behavior. As expected of a competent male zen'in.

'Though it probably doesn't have that much of a history, his technique should be superior to the other techniques that the children in this generation posses. He is easily a candidate as a successor.' He thought while imagining what face his son Naoya would make when he hears the news. That little shit has been getting a bit too disrespectful for his liking.

"Heh, you should be 5 or 6 years old now right? That's about the age at which childrens' training starts. You have considerable talent as a sorcerer and a good enough technique. You will be starting your training from tomorrow. I expect much from you." He said, while smiling like a typical pedophile that has caught a child in his hunting grounds.

Meanwhile, Akira was thinking of the hell he has gotten himself into.

'Shit.'

Shit indeed.

One doesn't need anything more than a single glance to see the extent of the training these children receive. It is more accurate to call it abuse than training. As, like a dark souls boss, you don't really learn anything you didn't already knew, you just get beaten until you learn the trainers' moveset and then stop getting beaten.

Of course, the trainer is in fact the Kukuru squad. The opposite of the Akashi squad who are often used as guards.

This squad consists of a large group of people who are hateful towards everyone and everything. Making them, either the best trainers or the worst depending on a persons' prespective.

'Sometimes, i can relate to Maki just a little bit. I will never actively try to challenge the clan. That's too much work to do. Weak willed? Shut up. I can either leave the clan with all the money and ride an air plane to some European country, lay in a European country, get an expensive house, lay on a king sized bed with a lovely girl beside myself, while i check my bank account, or i can invest my whole life, trying to kill some old man with sticks up their asses. You really ought to be stupid to choose the second option. But still....they are really annoying. Just shoving my foot into this old mans' mouth gives me an ethereal feeling. Ah just imagine it...oh fuck the hell yessss.' Akira thought to himself.

A creepy smile growing on his lips. The smile was so creepy it sent chills down the drunkards spine.

This was the first time Akira experienced the concept that the new gen kids call, the foot fetish, But reversed.

Naobito of course, decided to ignore that. After all, what could this one kid possibly be thinking about that could threaten him in any way?